THE VAMPIRE BAT. 35 



thrusting his foot out of the hammock, ' see how these infernal 

 imps have been drawing my life's blood.' On examining his 

 foot, I found the vampire had tapped his great toe. There was 

 a wound somewhat less than that made by a leech. The blood 

 was still oozing from it, and I conjectured he might have lost 

 from ten to twelve ounces of blood."* He adds, that he never 

 could discover how the vampire actually draws the blood, 

 although he has repeatedly seen men and beasts who had been 

 sucked by it. To ascertain its modus operandi, he put himself in the 

 way of it repeatedly ; but it would not accept the invitation held 

 out by his feet. He slept in the loft of a house in the forest 

 for eleven months, and the vampire flew into the place every 

 night, and often hovered over his hammock, yet never con- 

 descended to touch him, but seemed to have a personal dislike 

 to him, though it would tap the toe of an Indian, who slept in 

 a hammock within a few yards of him. 



The vampire of India is a species distinct from those of South 

 America. " I have never yet seen," says Waterton, " a bat 

 from India with a membrane rising perpendicularly from the 

 end of its nose j nor have I ever been able to learn that bats in 

 India suck animals, though I have questioned many people on the 

 subject." Bishop Heber says that "the vampire bat of India is a 

 very harmless creature, of habits entirely different from the idea 

 entertained of it in England. It only eats fruits and vegetables, 

 and, indeed, its teeth are not indicative of carnivorous habits ; 

 and it turns away from blood when offered to it. During the 

 daytime it is, of course, inert ; but at night it is lively, affec- 

 tionate, and playful, knows its keeper, but has no objection to 

 the approach and touch of others." 



In July, 1839, the Surrey Zoological Gardens contained a 

 living specimen of the Indian vampire a young male from 

 Sumatra. It was entirely black ; its wings were nearly two feet 

 in extent ; and its tongue was long and pointed. Cuvier says 

 the vampire bats run on the ground more easily than other bats ; 

 yet this specimen was never seen even to descend to the floor 



* Wanderings in South America, p. 176. 



